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I'm about to do all the state and government aspects of starting my cafe, and it's daunting. I'm forming a LLC. Legalzoom.com seems to be the perfect solution. They'll do all the name searching and paper gathering and whatnot. The hardest part about starting my own business right now is determining what forms I need. What insurances are mandatory? What does the IRS need? The state? It's mindboggling. I did some research last night on the prices of various forms I can submit, and this could either cost me a hundred or two, or thousands. They certainly don't make it easy. No information is easy to find, and none of it is particularly well explained, if at all. How did you fellow entrepreneurs go about this stage of the game? Did you hire a lawyer? Did you go it alone? Anyone use Legalzoom? Advice is greatly appreciated. I feel like a fish out of water at this point. I know how to apply for loans, and I know how to make coffee, but the papers I'm getting into now are so vital legally, I can't afford to misstep. God forbid I land in prison because I submitted form 1357A instead of 1020D.

Oh, sorry, I should've been more clear. The top set of questions were just examples of the ones I was asking myself - IE insurances, IRS and all. I'm mostly asking how people went about doing the paperwork, the mountain of bureaucracy - alone, lawyer, etc, and if anyone else used legalzoom like I plan to.

What I'm shooting for is a limited liability corporation where I'm the only owner/executive. I'd go sole proprietorship if it weren't for the liability. The only thing I need from any sort of corporate structure is legal protection. I don't want stocks of any sort - at least not in the sense that I understand stocks. I don't want investors and the hassle of board meetings. The only funding this cafe is getting is my savings and personal loans I'm taking with my own credit. Simplicity and safety - that's what I'm after. S Corp and C Corp seem like more hassle than they're worth.

I would set up a simple one person LLC --> http://www.perfectdocs.org/collections/limited-liability-company-llc I used the forms here before and had success. Try "attorney1" - I believe it still works and was 50% off